Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday accused the Centre of using CBI and asked why it had not given permission to the investigating agency to challenge a trial court order acquitting RJD chief Lalu Prasad in an assets case.
Kumar's comment came in the wake of Supreme Court holding that Bihar government cannot appeal in place of CBI against the acquittal of Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in the disproportionate assets case. "The way the Centre is using CBI has dented people's faith in it(CBI)," he said.
"Now it is for the Centre to clarify why it didn't give permission to CBI for challenging the acquittal of Lalu Prasad, the then Railway Minister, in the DA case, an offshoot of the multi-crore rupees fodder scam," he said.
The state government had challenged Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi's acquittal in Patna High Court after seeking legal opinions, Kumar said, adding he had to give his consent at that time as the CBI had decided not to appeal against the subordinate court's order. "It is a known fact that the office of CBI is being misused for implicating or saving one's skin. It will be Centre's wish," he said.
Though the CBI director had yesterday said that there had been "enough evidence" in the case to challenge the verdict of the subordinate court "but the Centre refused to grant permission to this effect," Kumar said. The chief minister said his government accepted the recent Supreme Court ruling. "We have accepted the ruling with humility ... the SC verdict is final." Prasad had welcomed the Supreme Court order and had said he had finally got justice from the apex court. PTI
